Nonprofits get critical community needs grants
FITCHBURG » The Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts, an organization serving the charitable interests of donors throughout 33 communities in the north central region of the commonwealth, announced Monday that it awarded 10 critical community needs grants totaling $166,000 in December, according to a release from the foundation.
“This marks our first annual Critical Community Needs grant program cycle,” said Stephen Adams, president of the Community Foundation. “The Community Foundation has responded to emergencies and crises in the past through our Critical Needs Fund. But this year we instituted this annual competitive grant.”
“This year’s program focus is homelessness, opioid and other substance use disorders, and suicide prevention,” Adams said. “Through the generosity of our fund holders and donors, we were able to support the good works of 10 local nonprofits who demonstrated a capacity for impact in these areas of critical need.”
Critical Community Needs grants include:
■ $25,000 to GAAMHA in Gardner for furniture and appliances for a new Residential Program and Therapeutic Farm for men with substance
abuse and mental health disorders
■ $5,000 to Our Father’s House in Fitchburg to operate a mobile shower for homeless individuals
■ $15,000 to the NAN Project in Lexington to normalize conversations around mental health and provide suicide prevention to the Bromfield School in Harvard
■ $25,000 to Disabled American Veterans to convert Armistice House, a sober living environment in Leominster, to HUD housing for veterans
■ $20,000 to NorthStar Family Services in Leominster for its Path to Self Sufficiency Emergency Shelter
■ $20,000 to Making Opportunity Count in Fitchburg for mental health clinic support for their FIRST Steps Together Parent Recovery Program
■ $7,000 to WHEAT Call 2 Talk for an awareness campaign and translation program for mental health/suicide prevention
■ $12,000 to First Church Unitarian Universalist Church in Leominster for heating costs associated with keeping the facility open for community meals
■ $25,000 to Disabled Ameri
can Veterans for repairs and upgrades to their transitional sober living facility for veterans in Leominster
■ $12,000 to North Middlesex Regional School District for a stipend for a mental health team position to support students returning from a hospitalization due to suicidal behaviors
The Community Foundation’s grant programs seek to improve the quality of life in North Central Massachusetts by supporting initiatives that have a capacity for long-term viability, offer thoughtful plans of action and outcome measurements and leverage collaborations.
To learn more about the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts, to establish a fund or make a donation, visit cfncm.org.
The Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts was created in 2001 to serve the charitable interests of donors in Ashburnham, Ashby, Athol, Ayer, Barre, Bolton, Clinton, Devens, Erving, Fitchburg, Gardner, Groton, Harvard, Hubbardston, Lancaster, Leominster, Littleton, Lunenburg, New Salem, Orange, Pepperell, Petersham, Phillipston, Princeton, Royalston, Shirley, Sterling, Templeton, Townsend, Warwick, Wendell, Westminster and Winchendon.